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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared on the ultra-rightwing cable network Real America’s Voice and railed against what she called America’s “proxy war” in Ukraine, saying it is “ridiculous” what the US is “doing over there” and that “we’re paying for Zelensky’s salary and people’s retirement over there.”
Green insinuated that the media and even her own congressional colleagues were telling “lies” about Vladimir Putin‘s intentions.
Contrary to what she hears in the House of Representatives and on TV, Greene said she has no reason to believe that Putin has plans to “invade Europe” — this despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (Note: Ukraine is a member of the European Union.)
“I’ve never seen Putin show in any detail his plans to invade Europe,” Greene said. “No one has shown me that, so I don’t believe the lies I’m being told about this.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene: "The whole point that we're over there in Ukraine is ridiculous…We are paying for…a proxy war with Russia, when I've never seen Putin actually show in any detail his plans to invade Europe…I don't believe the lies that I'm being told about this." pic.twitter.com/EMryvHC7Rx
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) March 16, 2023
Greene raged against a U.S. policy of Ukraine assistance that is largely supported by Democrats and, perhaps with more reservations, Republicans. Such unlikely bedfellows as Lindsey Graham and Mitt Romney have emphasized the importance of standing up to Putin and battling against Russia’s Ukraine invasion on the longstanding premise that such actions are in America’s vital national security interest.
To those who believe that Russia’s unprovoked and barbaric invasion of Ukraine is not a priority for the United States – you are missing a lot.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) March 14, 2023
But Greene is doubling down on a popular MAGA position also held by Donald Trump — and more recently seconded by undeclared presidential candidate Ron DeSantis — that Ukraine is a distraction and a money pit.
Echoing Trump, but with far more words, DeSantis declared his MAGA-aligned Ukraine position in a response to Tucker Carlson‘s potential candidate query.
DeSantis wrote: “While the U.S. has many vital national interests — securing our borders, addressing the crisis of readiness within our military, achieving energy security and independence, and checking the economic, cultural, and military power of the Chinese Communist Party — becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them.”
